Purdue English 106: Terri Brown

My name is Terri Brown and I was born in London, Ontario. I moved to Indiana in 2001, and decided to stay around home for university. It is now the second semester and I'm starting a new class in which we are going to be writing online.

About Me

My name is Terri Brown, and I was born in London, Ontario. I moved to Noblesville, Indiana, 5 years ago. I play lacrosse for the Purdue Women's club team. I am a member of Sigma Kappa and Pi Sigma Epsilon.

Archives

Thursday, April 20, 2006

English Showcase

As the semester is coming to a close the English Classes are putting together their final projects. For the most part English 106 students are constructing a tri-fold and developing a 3-5 minute presentation. Ms. Godwin's English 106 class has turned in two projects, and preparing the third. The final presentation will be presented like the English showcase that our English 106 class went to observe on Tuesday, April 18, 2006. Observing the English showcase helped to visualize what our English 106 class will be responsible for on April 27.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Picturing Texts

During the semester we have looked at many ways of how emphasis can be added to writing. Our class practiced using individual words and changing the shape and size in order to add emphasis. In a class discussion on Thursday, April 13, 2006, Ms. Godwin discussed picturing texts. Rhetorical writing involves asking a question that you seem to already know the answer to. There are two types of context that this may apply.

The first is immediate context when you already know who the reader is. In the introduction the writer is explaining why they are writing this, what world of writing they are using, as well as the medium. The second is referred to as broader context. Broader context changes as social, culture, history, or the economy comes into play. An example would be the idea that pre 9/11 writing has changed in comparison to post 9/11. There are many elements associated with either context depending on the purpose.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Final Project

As the year is winding down it is time to complete the last project in English 106. Ms. Godwin has given our class the opportunity to explore many places on the web. Most of the pages we visited our class had never heard of. Companies are becoming more digital and are expecting their employees to have the understanding of the World Wide Web. Ms. Godwin has showed us the basics and it is up to us to keep on top of it. The Web is going to continue to expand and many new sites will be added. It is an individual’s job to expand with it. Technology is not going to slow down so it is important to keep up.

Project three is all about how we as students have composed ourselves digitally. When brainstorming a list sites we visited in the class I wrote down a list of places I have signed up. Composing yourself digitally is not just about signing up, but about all the places that you have been on the Web. When thinking of the Web in these terms I am able to come up with over a page list of sites that I have used for English 106 and research for other classes. Students that have not taken the time to become familiar with the Web are going to be left in the dark as days continue and more is added to the web.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

A Learning Experience

If elementary school prepares you for Intermediate school, and Intermediate school prepares you for middle school. Middle school prepares you for High school, and High School prepares you for University. What does University prepare you for? I guess the correct answer would be life. To think about graduation, getting a full time job, a house, family, and full responsibility is kind of frightening. When sitting in class on April 10, 2006, reality began to set in. There is only 3 weeks remaining in my freshman year of University.

After working busily the night before adding last minute touches to my paper and website I felt it was finally ready to be turned in. I remember Ms. Godwin mentioning that she did not want to read a paper off of the computer but I also recalled that Emmie Woodward, a freshman in my English 106 class, received a good grade on her project one when I heard Ms. Godwin say that she did a really nice job. During class we pulled up our papers offline and when Ms. Godwin went around the class to see what others had done she asked if I had my folder with me. I was kind of confused and was informed that I was supposed to have it printed out with a CD copy to show that my paper had been digitally enhanced.

I don't know if there has ever been a time in my life where I was as scared as I was at that time. Ms. Godwin asked if I would like another day to put together my project and a great relief was pulled off my back. It had finally set in that this would not always happen like this. Ms. Godwin could have said sorry and collected what I had. Ms. Godwin told me to take it as a learning experience. It is better to learn from mistakes now then to make mistakes when the stakes could be as high as a job.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Research

When writing a paper I usually turn to Google to search for information so that I am able to avoid actually go to a library and search for book resources. In class on April 6, 2006, we discussed the importance of having authority in a paper. Google can be used when initially locating a subject and learning general knowledge. After drawing the big circle it is important to then find sources with authority, which are commonly found in hard copy. Internet sources may provide effective information, but it is hard to prove what information is actually accurate.

Authority may also be added to a paper when using names of people that are knowledgeable in an area of study related to the paper. When using information that comes from anyone but you the information should be cited. This makes certain that there is no plagiarism and that a lawsuit will not be filed. If information is general knowledge or something I may already know then a citation is not necessary for that information. It is very important to create authority and write a paper that you feel knowledgeable about.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Mind Mapping

Brainstorming has always been an effective strategy to utilize previous to starting a paper. Until yesterday I believed that the only way to do this was gather random ideas that are floating around in an individuals head and write them with a pen and paper. On Monday, we learned about a program titled 'Free Mind' which is a free mind mapping software. It allows for a space to gather thoughts and ideas. It helps an individual to prioritize, know where you've been, and where you plan on going using mind maps.

A 'Mind Map' is a diagram that may be used to connect thoughts and ideas to one key concept. It can be used to visualize, classify, structure, and generate ideas. It helps to aid in study, problem solving, and decision making. This method is useful in a conflict and trying to establish between the positive and negatives to make an effective decision. This may also be used in writing where we used to jot down thoughts and ideas in brainstorming. It is now possible to use a single software to help organize and sort through these topics to make a well developed and organized paper.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Paragraphs

For many years now I have been writing papers consisting of multiple paragraphs. It was not until this year that I was introduced the idea of an "I" to format paragraphs. Ms. Godwin used a great analogy to describe the flow of a paragraph. When riding in a car you normally do not hear any random sounds or feel any abnormal movements, but if a car is having problems then you might notice some differences when driving. While driving it may not feel as smooth referring to the rhythm. When writing you create a rhythm that will be used throughout the paragraph. It is easy to tell if a paragraph has rhythm or not by the way a paragraph reads.

In order to construct a well written paragraph is important to first make sure there is readability, which refers to the rhythm or flow of the paragraph. Next it is important to watch the sentence complexity. Using a subject, verb, and object were acceptable in grade school, but now it is time to combine sentences using fanboys. It is also important to watch out for redundancy. No one enjoys reading repeated information over and over in a single paper. Economy of phrases is a phrase used to give notice to a writer that they should get rid of extra words that add clutter to a sentence.

When writing a paper an individual commonly feels that it is necessary to add in complex words to make a paper sound sophisticated. Often times adding these complex words makes a paper seem like in order to read it a dictionary will be necessary. After the sentences are finished it is then time to order the sentences. Using the "I" shape that I talked about in the previous post the narrow part is used to explain stacking up. Lining up the sentences will ensure that the paragraph will have rhythm. A paper may have the capability of being great but because there is no pattern, combining of sentences, reducing of words, and proper order the paper may be misapprehended.